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Unfortunately, most addicts are unable to change their circumstances drastically enough to use this technique. To use an analogy from the article, a smoker can

Unfortunately, most addicts are unable to change their circumstances drastically enough to use this technique. To use an analogy from the article, a smoker can't stop going to work because walking by the entrance stirs cravings. Would like to see practical tools that addicts can employ that use this theory, short of flying across the world.

patmcc 12y ago
It's interesting, quitting a job and drastically changing your life could actually make financial sense if it got you to quit smoking. Assuming: 1 pack/day, $10 a pack (this is close in my province), 5% interest, over 30 years, has a present value of $55k. I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers for alcoholism or heroin addiction are similar. Addiction is hugely expensive to the people afflicted and society at large (barring the usual discussion of smokers saving health care dollars by dying early). If flying across the world/country and making other drastic changes really does stop the cycle with a high rate of success, we should consider funding it.
- arthurcolle 12y ago
  Not to mention opportunity cost of that money (buying textbooks instead of 15 packs) and health costs of smoking.
- mathattack 12y ago
  Alcoholism is much higher. It's not hard to spend $100+ on a good bender. Add in the associated health issues (true for smoking too) and the NPV of healthy behavior is much higher.
  - ibebrett 12y ago
    most alcoholics i know don't spend money this way. they buy cheap vodka and drink alone, not out going from bar to bar.
    - genericuser 12y ago
      It really depends on the budget of the alcoholic from my experience. Alcoholics have a way of making their alcoholism fit/fill their budget.
  - Nanzikambe 12y ago
    Bar hoppers are alcoholics in training, most countries don't have bars open 24/7 - and $100 buys a lot more alcohol from the off license or whatever. I'm no doctor, but if a person is able to "exist" for half the day or more without their buzz, I'd suspect they've not yet built very any/much physical dependence.
    - DanBC 12y ago
      Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous. In England you get a medically supervised withdrawal if you drink more than 40 units per day. Very roughly this is 32 US Fluid ounces of 80 proof liquor per day. (One litre of 40% spirits).
      - mathattack 12y ago
        Let's convert this to #s I understand... 80 proof = 40%. BigBeer (Budweiser) ~= 5% CraftBeer ~= 8% with some variation So this means 16 pints (or ~21 12oz bottles) of Budweiser or 10 pints (should never be drunk in 12oz bottles) of Craft Brew a day. For a small person, that's almost enough to be perpetually buzzed. I think the Drink Alone vs Bar Hopping is just a matter of being a functioning vs non-functioning alcoholic.
- OvidNaso 12y ago
  "If flying across the world/country and making other drastic changes really does stop the cycle with a high rate of success, we should consider funding it." In addiction circles this behavior is comingly attempted, and considered so unsuccessful, that it has a *A-ism, "Doing a geographic".
- Devthrowaway80 12y ago
  I'm an alcoholic who's been sober for about 3 months. I would have been ecstatic if I managed to get by for $10 a day. I'd easily drop a couple hundred dollars at the bar on drinks for myself in a single night. Even if I was drinking at home, a bottle of hard liquor does not go for $10 in Canada.
- PhantomGremlin 12y ago
  One of the first FORTRAN programs I wrote, as a kid about 45 years ago, generated a table that showed, based on cost of cigarettes, interest rate, number of years, how much money my father's cigarette addiction was costing him. Of course I couldn't find that output today. But one thing I remember quite clearly is the cost of cigarettes. They were about $0.30 per pack back then. I'm sure I wouldn't have gone over $1.00 per pack in my table. Even allowing for inflation, someone is making a lot of money off the back of addicts.
  - droopyEyelids 12y ago
    Thinking like that leads you into the tricky realm of the government profiting off vice. A huge part of the $10 price tag is tax. But at least the government doesn't advertise cigarettes, like it does with the lottery.
davemckenna01 12y ago
Maybe if you adopt enough of the small changes, like smoking with your non-dominant hand, you're environment will be different enough to make a dent.
weeksie 12y ago
That depends. If you happen to be moving houses it might be a good time to try to quit smoking as well, for instance. For heroin? Maybe it's worth moving to a different town.
Osmoticat 12y ago
My parents are smokers, and have been for decades. When they out of the house they have little trouble not smoking. It's when they're stuck at home in front of the television when they find themselves smoking a lot. Ironically, the high price of cigarettes means they can't afford to go out very often.
- totalrobe 12y ago
  Does it cost a lot in your area to go for a walk?
  - Osmoticat 12y ago
    It costs them a lot of pain, since they both have arthritis.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
wefarrell 12y ago
I quit smoking recently. There were a lot of positive habits associated with smoking. I got to go outside, clear my head of of work for a few minutes, and take regular breaks. So I took those things and did something in place of smoking that would let me get the same benefits. When I would normally take smoke breaks I would go outside (through a different exit) and take a walk. Or I'd stay inside and stretch or do simple exercises. When it's not possible to change surroundings, it's important to replace bad habits with good ones.
- soylentcola 12y ago
  Good move! The other side of this is that people smoke for the (at least situationally) positive effects of the active chemicals. Nicotine is a stimulant that a lot of people use for the clarity, focus, and relaxation it can provide in the short term. By using exercise as your replacement, you aren't just distracting yourself from the lack of a psychoactive drug but you're maintaining many of the positive results without the toxic delivery method. In my situation it's less feasible for me to do much exercise (at least not enough to compensate) every time I feel the need to clear some brain fog and tension but I did switch to a nicotine delivery method that doesn't rely on inhaling burning tobacco and the health risks associated. In the process I dramatically lowered my usage but at the least I'm just getting the mild stimulant (similar to how many people use coffee) without the hazardous stuff that goes along with smoking as the delivery method. Either way, congrats! Making the effort to change habits to remove unhealthy aspects seems pretty worthwhile from my experience with this.
  - drinchev 12y ago
    Can you give some more details on your nicotine delivery method, I'm trying to quit smoking this year ( actually today is day No. 8 since I haven't put nicotine in my blood ) but I'm super interested in the side effects. I work from home and it seems I can't focus on developing so easily and get distracted even more these days.
Nanzikambe 12y ago
Though I agree with your main point; in my experience the smoker-at-the-office analogy actually doesn't work. Most businesses won't let you smoke near entrances for obvious cosmetic reasons. There's either a smoker's corner or folks duck out some back entrance. I quit whilst working by avoiding places that were part of that "ritual": the cafeteria, fire escape/stairwell & pedestrian entry to the garage. Disclosure: I've long since started again, I work from home now :-P

patmcc 12y ago

It's interesting, quitting a job and drastically changing your life could actually make financial sense if it got you to quit smoking. Assuming: 1 pack/day, $10 a pack (this is close in my province), 5% interest, over 30 years, has a present value of $55k. I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers for alcoholism or heroin addiction are similar. Addiction is hugely expensive to the people afflicted and society at large (barring the usual discussion of smokers saving health care dollars by dying early). If flying across the world/country and making other drastic changes really does stop the cycle with a high rate of success, we should consider funding it.

arthurcolle 12y ago
Not to mention opportunity cost of that money (buying textbooks instead of 15 packs) and health costs of smoking.
mathattack 12y ago
Alcoholism is much higher. It's not hard to spend $100+ on a good bender. Add in the associated health issues (true for smoking too) and the NPV of healthy behavior is much higher.
- ibebrett 12y ago
  most alcoholics i know don't spend money this way. they buy cheap vodka and drink alone, not out going from bar to bar.
  - genericuser 12y ago
    It really depends on the budget of the alcoholic from my experience. Alcoholics have a way of making their alcoholism fit/fill their budget.
- Nanzikambe 12y ago
  Bar hoppers are alcoholics in training, most countries don't have bars open 24/7 - and $100 buys a lot more alcohol from the off license or whatever. I'm no doctor, but if a person is able to "exist" for half the day or more without their buzz, I'd suspect they've not yet built very any/much physical dependence.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous. In England you get a medically supervised withdrawal if you drink more than 40 units per day. Very roughly this is 32 US Fluid ounces of 80 proof liquor per day. (One litre of 40% spirits).
    - mathattack 12y ago
      Let's convert this to #s I understand... 80 proof = 40%. BigBeer (Budweiser) ~= 5% CraftBeer ~= 8% with some variation So this means 16 pints (or ~21 12oz bottles) of Budweiser or 10 pints (should never be drunk in 12oz bottles) of Craft Brew a day. For a small person, that's almost enough to be perpetually buzzed. I think the Drink Alone vs Bar Hopping is just a matter of being a functioning vs non-functioning alcoholic.
OvidNaso 12y ago
"If flying across the world/country and making other drastic changes really does stop the cycle with a high rate of success, we should consider funding it." In addiction circles this behavior is comingly attempted, and considered so unsuccessful, that it has a *A-ism, "Doing a geographic".
Devthrowaway80 12y ago
I'm an alcoholic who's been sober for about 3 months. I would have been ecstatic if I managed to get by for $10 a day. I'd easily drop a couple hundred dollars at the bar on drinks for myself in a single night. Even if I was drinking at home, a bottle of hard liquor does not go for $10 in Canada.
PhantomGremlin 12y ago
One of the first FORTRAN programs I wrote, as a kid about 45 years ago, generated a table that showed, based on cost of cigarettes, interest rate, number of years, how much money my father's cigarette addiction was costing him. Of course I couldn't find that output today. But one thing I remember quite clearly is the cost of cigarettes. They were about $0.30 per pack back then. I'm sure I wouldn't have gone over $1.00 per pack in my table. Even allowing for inflation, someone is making a lot of money off the back of addicts.
- droopyEyelids 12y ago
  Thinking like that leads you into the tricky realm of the government profiting off vice. A huge part of the $10 price tag is tax. But at least the government doesn't advertise cigarettes, like it does with the lottery.

davemckenna01 12y ago

Maybe if you adopt enough of the small changes, like smoking with your non-dominant hand, you're environment will be different enough to make a dent.

weeksie 12y ago

That depends. If you happen to be moving houses it might be a good time to try to quit smoking as well, for instance. For heroin? Maybe it's worth moving to a different town.

Osmoticat 12y ago

My parents are smokers, and have been for decades. When they out of the house they have little trouble not smoking. It's when they're stuck at home in front of the television when they find themselves smoking a lot. Ironically, the high price of cigarettes means they can't afford to go out very often.

totalrobe 12y ago
Does it cost a lot in your area to go for a walk?
- Osmoticat 12y ago
  It costs them a lot of pain, since they both have arthritis.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

wefarrell 12y ago

I quit smoking recently. There were a lot of positive habits associated with smoking. I got to go outside, clear my head of of work for a few minutes, and take regular breaks. So I took those things and did something in place of smoking that would let me get the same benefits. When I would normally take smoke breaks I would go outside (through a different exit) and take a walk. Or I'd stay inside and stretch or do simple exercises. When it's not possible to change surroundings, it's important to replace bad habits with good ones.

soylentcola 12y ago
Good move! The other side of this is that people smoke for the (at least situationally) positive effects of the active chemicals. Nicotine is a stimulant that a lot of people use for the clarity, focus, and relaxation it can provide in the short term. By using exercise as your replacement, you aren't just distracting yourself from the lack of a psychoactive drug but you're maintaining many of the positive results without the toxic delivery method. In my situation it's less feasible for me to do much exercise (at least not enough to compensate) every time I feel the need to clear some brain fog and tension but I did switch to a nicotine delivery method that doesn't rely on inhaling burning tobacco and the health risks associated. In the process I dramatically lowered my usage but at the least I'm just getting the mild stimulant (similar to how many people use coffee) without the hazardous stuff that goes along with smoking as the delivery method. Either way, congrats! Making the effort to change habits to remove unhealthy aspects seems pretty worthwhile from my experience with this.
- drinchev 12y ago
  Can you give some more details on your nicotine delivery method, I'm trying to quit smoking this year ( actually today is day No. 8 since I haven't put nicotine in my blood ) but I'm super interested in the side effects. I work from home and it seems I can't focus on developing so easily and get distracted even more these days.

Nanzikambe 12y ago

Though I agree with your main point; in my experience the smoker-at-the-office analogy actually doesn't work. Most businesses won't let you smoke near entrances for obvious cosmetic reasons. There's either a smoker's corner or folks duck out some back entrance. I quit whilst working by avoiding places that were part of that "ritual": the cafeteria, fire escape/stairwell & pedestrian entry to the garage. Disclosure: I've long since started again, I work from home now :-P